My Valentine
by nashvillefan12
Summary: Valentine's Day
1. Chapter 1

**I decided to write a story based on Valentine's Day but it got a little long...Enjoy!**

Deacon stands nervously on Rayna's porch staring at the closed door before him. He holds flowers in his hand, slightly tipping them enough so he can check his watch under his black dress jacket sleeve to make sure he's not too early. He clears his throat and pushes the doorbell, hearing it echo inside the big house.

The door slowly opens moments later to a small petite blonde. "Deacon!" Daphne exclaimed opening the door to the Belle Meade house. Deacon looked down at the small girl with a smile on his face. She lunges into his arms, taking him off guard. He laughs, loosening up a bit at Daphne's friendly gesture. "Hey." He says.

Daphne steps back to admire the flowers he holds in his hand. "Are those for Mom?" She asks, placing her nose in the middle of one flower and inhaling. "Maddie." Deacon corrects her. Daphne nods sighing all her energy out.

Deacon knows it's been an adjustment for all of them after finding out Maddie was his daughter. He's enjoyed his time getting to know Maddie better but he also adored Daphne and didn't want her to feel left out. He reaches into the bouquet of flowers and plucks out a rose to hand to the little girl. "This one is for you!" He says.

Suddenly her energy returns as she jumps up and down. "Thank you!" She grabs Deacon's free hand, leading him inside.

He stands awkwardly in the kitchen. "We should probably get these in water don't you think?" He asks holding the flowers. Daphne giggles. "Probably a good idea." She opens the cupboard and pulls out a vase.

He sits down on the stool at the island in the kitchen, watching the young girl fill the vase with water. "Mom and Maddie are upstairs getting ready for their dates." Deacon nods. "You have to see mom! She's looking really pretty tonight!" Daphne adds. Deacon couldn't imagine Rayna looking anything but pretty. He smiles. "I bet she is!"

Daphne turns the faucet off. "Do you have a date for Valentine's Day?" She asks curiously. "Nope." He says shaking his head. She places the vase on the counter. "Why not?" She asks. He shrugs his shoulders. "Do you have a date?" He reflects. She picks up the bouquet and places the flowers in the vase. "I'm only ten!" She says rolling her eyes. He laughs. "Well just between you and me, it's just another day." He says. "It's not just any day! It's a day to get flowers and chocolate-" Her eyes grow wide at the mention of chocolate. "And cards from creepy boys at school!" She adds wrinkling her nose at the thought.

Deacon chuckles at her many facial expressions. He starts sniffing around. "Is something burning?" He asked Daphne. A look of horror crosses Daphne's face. She covers her eyes with her hands. "Oh no! My cookies!" She says. He runs around to the other side of the counter and grabs an oven mitt to pull them out of the oven.

Daphne takes a look at the cookies. "They're ruined!" She cries. Deacon frowns at the black cookies. "No, no they're good! See!" He says trying to make her feel better. He picks one up, holding the edges to not burn himself. He puts it in between his teeth, trying to bite down. She watches him struggle. "They're hard and they're burnt! I can't believe I forgot to set the timer!" Daphne says picking up the timer sitting on the kitchen counter. She walks around the counter and sits down on the stool, crossing her arms and pouting. "Now I'm not going to have anything to bring into my class tomorrow for Valentine's Day!"

Deacon places the tray down on the counter and throws his arm around the little girl. "Don't you worry! I'll fix this!" She smiles, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you Uncle Deacon!" She hops off the stool and runs towards the stairs.

Rayna descended the stairs, holding a clutch in one hand and gripping the railing with the other to steady her balance in her heels. Daphne runs passed her up the stairs.

"Hey!" Rayna said smiling at Deacon. "Hey." He said taking in the sight of her. "She's almost ready. Just working on the last minute hair change." Rayna informed him.

"You look amazing, Ray." Rayna smiled brushing the hair out of her face. "Thank you. Luke should be here any minute." Deacon suddenly felt uncomfortable again.

Rayna walks around the counter, eyeing the cookies. "What happened here?" She asks taking a closer look. "They're just a little burnt." He replies. She raises her eyebrows at the word 'a little'. She notices the flowers setting on the counter and smiles as she sniffs them. "These are gorgeous! For Maddie?" She asks. Deacon nods. "Yeah well except for that one rose. That's Daphne's." Rayna looked up at him, her heart melting a little.

"You're so good to them! Thank you for taking Maddie to the dance. She's been really looking forward to this!" Deacon started to act bashful at the compliment. He shoved his hands in his pocket and swayed back and forth. "Thank you for including me." He said, watching her clean up the cookie disaster. "This was all her idea!" He smiles playfully as he starts to relax again. "Well that's very kind. Must've got her thoughtfulness from me." He grins. Rayna turns around and chucks a cookie at him. "Hey!" She exclaims. He laughs as he dodges the cookie.

"So any plans after the big valentine's day dance?" Rayna asked trying to change the subject. "No." Deacon replied with a light shrug. She nods rinsing the cookie tray off in the sink. "I'm sorry to hear about you and Megan."

He seems calm about the whole thing. "It's nothing new. I'm used to being alone on Valentine's Day. Just another day of the year is all."

"I'm ready!" Maddie yelled from upstairs. Rayna and Deacon both stood in front of the island, watching Maddie come downstairs. Maddie smiled as she saw the expressions on their face. "Oh sweetheart! You look adorable!" Rayna gushed. "Mom!" Maddie said annoyed as she rolled her eyes. Rayna wrapped her arms around Maddie. "I'm sorry baby, it's just you're growing up too fast!" She gave Maddie a kiss on the head.

"You do look beautiful." Deacon smiled. Rayna hugged Maddie tighter. "Thank you." Maddie replied. "Must've got that from me." Rayna mocked teasingly. Deacon chuckled. "She sure did. Just as pretty as her mama." Rayna giggled, getting lost in the moment.

Maddie lifted her head off Rayna's chest and looked up at her mother and then over at Deacon. They were both in a daze, smiling to themselves. "You guys are so weird." Maddie replied. Deacon chuckled. "Oh hey, these are for you!" He said gesturing to the flowers. "Roses! My favorite! Thanks!" Maddie exclaimed picking one up and twirling it in her fingers.

"Well should we get going?" Deacon asked. Maddie nodded. "Bye y'all have fun!" Rayna said waving them goodbye.

Later that evening, Rayna drops by the dance after dropping Daphne off with Teddy. She walks into the school gym and sees Maddie and Deacon sitting on the bleachers. "Hey isn't this a dance? Why aren't y'all dancing?" Rayna asks over the loud music and chatter surrounding them.

Maddie crosses her arms and looks away. Rayna looked at Deacon for some answers. "Oh no! What happened?" Rayna asks sensing something was up as she takes a seat next to them. "Ryan asked Nicole to dance." Deacon informs her. "Ryan? Ryan the kid you liked? Oh sweetheart I am so sorry." Rayna says wrapping her arms around Maddie. "Mom please." Maddie says shrugging her mother off and sliding down the bleachers to put distance between them.

Talia walks over to them, seeing how miserable Maddie looks. "Don't worry about her Maddie. You're way prettier than her." Talia says. Maddie rests her chin on her hand. Talia nods her head towards the other side of the room. "Come on let's cheer you up." Talia says. Maddie gets up and follows Talia.

"I'm sorry she's having such a horrible time. She was really looking forward to this." Rayna says watching Maddie and her friend disappear. "Yeah me too." Deacon replies. "Hey what are you doing here anyway? I thought Luke-" Deacon started to say. "He got delayed in New York with the weather up there." Rayna explains. Deacon nods his head. "I'm sorry. Spending Valentine's Day alone isn't that bad. Trust me I'm an expert." He says with a smile. She smiles back. He always knew the right thing to say to make her feel better.

The song at the dance changes. They both share a look and burst into giggles. "Wow! This takes me back about 20 years." Deacon comments on the music. Rayna grins. "Yeah." She agrees. He stands up, offering her his hand. "Would you like to dance?" He asks. Rayna looked around nervously but decided to go for it anyway. She allows him lead her to the dance floor.

He holds her hand close to his chest with his arm around her back. He loosens his grip and twirls her. She spins back into him with a big grin on her face. "I couldn't help but notice how at peace you seem with ending things with Megan. I really thought there was something there." Rayna says swaying to the music. Deacon remains silent. "I'm sorry I don't mean to pry." She explains.

"It's not a big deal. I think we both had really bad timing. She had just lost her husband. I always felt like she was comparing me to him and she always felt that I was comparing her to-" Deacon explains stopping mid-sentence. Rayna raises her eyebrows. "Me?" She asks trying to sound surprised.

Deacon looked away. "I met her when I was in that dark place. I didn't have much to offer her I guess." He says avoiding her question. "Deacon you have plenty of good qualities to offer a woman." He laughs. "Oh yeah?" He asks surprised. "Yeah." She says. "Name one." He challenges.

"Well there's that charming smile of yours, you got a good sense of humor, you have good taste in music and you can dance. There's five good qualities right there and I could list a thousand more." She smiles.

He laughs. "Geez Ray. Do you want to spend Valentine's Day with me?" He asks still laughing in a jokingly way. "Sure." She says simply and serious.

He stops swinging her around the dance floor and raises his eyebrows at her. "I mean you said it's just another day of the year right?" Rayna asks. Deacon nods. "Luke and I had dinner reservations at Riverside. I doubt he's going to get out of New York by tomorrow night. No sense in wasting them. We could do dinner and catch up. I'd love to hear how your record deal is going." Deacon smiles. "Yeah that sounds great!" He says. "Alright." She smiles.

Maddie stands over by the punch bowl with her friend, Talia. Talia nods towards the dance floor. "I thought you said your mom was dating Luke Wheeler."

Maddie looks over at Rayna and Deacon dancing together. "They're just friends or at least that's what my mom keeps telling me." Maddie says referring to Deacon.

Talia raises her eyebrows. "Looks like more than friends to me." Maddie tilts her head to study Rayna and Deacon. "You think? They would've told me right?" Talia shrugs. "They're definitely still in love." Maddie stares over at Rayna and Deacon again. "Now let's go find you love. Come on." Talia says yanking Maddie's arm and pulling her away from the dance floor. Maddie follows her but looks back at Rayna and Deacon.

The song Rayna and Deacon were dancing to changes. "We should probably check on Maddie." Rayna said searching the gym for her daughter. Deacon nods and follows her off the dance floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**And the ending to this story...**

The next morning, Deacon stands on Rayna's porch. He rings the doorbell and Rayna greets him. "Hey."

"Hey I promised Daphne cookies for her class today. I thought I would drop them off on my way to the studio." He holds out a bowl of cookies. "Come in." She takes a step back from the door.

The two girls sit at the counter, eating their breakfast. "Hey Deacon." Maddie says. Deacon smiles. "How y'all doing?"

Daphne swirls around on her stool spotting the cookies. "You remembered!" Daphne exclaims running into Deacon's arms. "Of course." He smiles. Rayna looks over at the two, giving Daphne a look. "What do you say to Uncle Deacon?"

"Thank you!" Daphne grabs the container of cookies and sets in on the counter.

"You're welcome!"

Rayna glances up at the clock. "Let's get going girls before we're late!" Rayna instructs. "Do I have to go to school today?" Maddie whines standing up from the counter. "Yes you do young lady." Rayna warns zipping up their lunch boxes. "Can't I just drop out? What if Ryan is there?" Maddie asks. "No boy is going to stop my daughter from graduating high school. Now go get ready!" Maddie rolls her eyes at her mother as she heads upstairs with Daphne to grab their backpacks.

Deacon watches them climb the stairs. He leans his elbows on the counter as he turns his attention back to Rayna when they're out of site. "Isn't she a little young to be boy crazy? Please tell me this is just a phase." Deacon asks. Rayna laughs. "Let's face it! We are raising a teenager. This phase doesn't stop until she's at least 25." Rayna says.

Deacon cringes. "How about we lock her up and don't let her out til she's 40?"

She raises her eyebrows at him. "You mean like my daddy tried to do with me? That would only push her to sneak out of the house. I mean I was around her age when I snuck out and I-" Rayna pauses meeting Deacon's eyes. Both their eyes grow wide knowing exactly what the other is thinking.

Deacon's jaw drops. "No! No way! Ray, she goes to a private school. Don't they talk about this sort of thing in health class or something?" Deacon asks concerned. Rayna shrugs. "I'm sure they do but I went to a private school too! That didn't stop me from seeing you!" Deacon runs his fingers through his hair, thinking for a moment.

He stands up straight and smirks. "So that's why you snuck out? So you could sleep with me?" He asks still smirking. Rayna gives him a look. He shrugs his shoulders, gloating. "I always thought you wanted to see me for my charming smile and my ruggedly handsome good looks." Deacon grinned. Rayna laughed, pushing him slightly off balance. "I never said anything about ruggedly handsome good looks."

Deacon points to her. "No, but you're laughing so must be my sense of humor is working." He grinned bigger this time. She giggled. "You're so full of yourself, you know that?" She asked playfully swatting him this time. They both laugh.

"So what time should I pick you up tonight?" Deacon asks in a more serious tone. Rayna opens her mouth to reply when a small voice interrupts them.

"Do you guys have a date or something?" Maddie asks. Rayna and Deacon both jump. Rayna walks around to the other side of the counter, putting distance between them. "No, no." Rayna says reassuringly.

"Are you guys in love? My friend Laura said on Valentine's Day the first person you see of the opposite sex you'll fall in love with. She said that Cupid flies around and shoots them with arrows." Daphne says dramatically. Deacon chuckles. "Is that right?" Daphne nods. "Well if that's true, I believe I saw my mail lady first thing this morning. She's a retired older lady. I think she's married. Think we'd make a good pair?" Deacon asks grinning. Maddie rolls her eyes. "You're not supposed to fall in love with someone who's married!" Daphne explains.

Deacon nods. "Oh, well I guess I'll just be alone then." Daphne giggles. "You can fall in love with mom. She's not married and Maddie said at the dance last night you-" Daphne starts to say before Maddie nudged her. "Daphne!" She warns.

"Girls you're going to be late." Rayna instructs pushing them towards the door. "Did I say something wrong?" Daphne asks in a sad voice.

Deacon puts his hand on the little girl's back and smiles down at her. "How about I take you both to school today?" Deacon offers, avoiding the little girls question. "Yay!" Daphne exclaims. "You sure?" Rayna asks. "It's on my way." He replies.

"I thought you said you were heading to the studio? That's on the other side of town." Rayna asks confused. "Yeah but there's a hardware store near their school. I'm going to stop and get a lock for Maddie's bedroom window." Deacon says. Maddie grabs her lunch box off the counter before turning to face Deacon. "What?" She asks confused.

Rayna smiles. "Don't worry about it. You're going to be late for school." Maddie nods following Daphne out the door. "First comes love then comes marriage then comes the baby in the baby carriage." Daphne sings as she walks out the door.

Deacon turns back to Rayna before leaving. "See you tonight?" He asks verifying their dinner plans. Rayna nods with a smile. "Yeah sounds good." Deacon smiles back as he opens the door and shuts it behind him.

That night Rayna and Deacon are sitting at the dinner table, chatting away about his record deal. "I just need a good song for my album. You know one big hit that's going to sell this thing." Deacon explained. "Hey I completely understand. If it wasn't for you and I writing that song together I would still be listening to demo after demo after demo."

Deacon nods thinking for a moment. "I know we agreed to not write together anymore but do you know whatever happened to that green notebook we wrote in years ago? We never used too many of those songs and if I remember correctly there were some good ones in there."

"I believe I still have it! Gosh I forgot about that old thing!" She says smiling at the memory.

"Really? Do you know where it might be?" Rayna thought for a moment. "I have a good idea." She replied. He bit his lip. "I hate to ask but do you mind if I come over and look through it?" Rayna hesitated. "Yeah sure that's fine." She finally replied.

They head back to the house. Deacon sits in the livingroom while Rayna runs upstairs to grab the notebook. When she comes downstairs she hands the notebook to Deacon and sits next to him glancing over his shoulder at the lyrics. "Wow! I can't believe we wrote all these!" He said filling through.

"Wait! What's that one?" Rayna asks noticing the date on the page and pointing to it. "February 14th, 1994. That's 20 years old today!"

Rayna squints her eyes trying to adjust them to the page. Deacon notices her straining and hands over the notebook.

She takes the notebook and walks over to the piano. She follows along in the notebook as she starts to play and sing it.

If there were no words, no way to speak I would still hear you If there were no tears, no way to feel inside I've still feel for you

And even if the sun refused to shine Even if romance ran out of rhyme You would still have my heart until the end of time You're all I need my love, my valentine

All of my life I have been waiting for all you give to me You've opened my eyes And shown me how to love unselfishly

I've dreamed of this a thousand times before In my dreams I couldn't love you more I will give you my heart until the end of time You're all I need my love, my valentine

And even if the sun refused to shine Even if romance ran out of rhyme You would still have my heart until the end of time 'Cause all I need is you, my valentine Oh, you're all I need my love, my valentine

Rayna sighs as she finishes the song and looks over at Deacon. Deacon smiles. "That was beautiful."

She reads over the lyrics again in her head and wipes a tear from her eye. "You know I didn't realize how late it was. You're welcome to take the notebook if you'd like." He looks at her confused as she avoids his eye contact.

She stands up from the piano, closing the notebook and laying it in front of him on the coffee table. "Ray." He says trying to get her attention. She walks passed him hoping he wouldn't see her tearing up. "Goodnight." She says. He watches as she runs upstairs.

Her sudden weird behavior worries him. He grabs the notebook and heads upstairs.

He opens the door to her bedroom and scans the room for her. When he doesn't see her, he notices the light coming from the closet. He peaks his head in.

"Ray is everything o-" He starts to ask but spots her in the closet with a box of stuff. She jumps, startled by his appearance. "Hey is that my Titans sweatshirt?" He asks noticing the sweatshirt laying on top of the box. He lays the notebook he's holding down on the closet floor and picks up the sweatshirt and studies it. Rayna tried to close the box quickly before he could see anymore but didn't manage to do so as his hand reaches down to pick up more items from the box. "And the napkin I wrote A Life that's Good on? Is that my hat too?" He asks rummaging through the box.

Rayna tries to pull the box away and close it again but he has a strong grip on it. He continues looking through the box. "Why do you have all this stuff of mine? And it's all in a box labeled shoes?" He asks confused. "You should really go." Rayna replied trying again to close the box. He pulled the box away from her. "Rayna what's going on here?" He asks. "Noth-" She starts to say. "Do not tell me it's nothing." He warns. Rayna tries to hold back the tears from falling. "I-I can't right now." She says breaking down. Deacon looks at her confused. "Okay then we'll sit here until you're ready to explain all this." He says pointing to the box.

A few minutes later she collects herself. She sighs looking at him patiently waiting for an explanation. "I held onto a few items to remember you by after we broke up and I didn't want Teddy to find out so I labeled the box shoes." She mumbles. "You still have it?" He asked surprised. She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I never get in here to clean anything out so here it sits. If you want anything back I mean it's your stuff." She says trying to make light of the situation.

He nods not believing her. He continues to rummage through the box. He spots something small at the bottom. "What the-" He says pulling out a ring box. "Deacon! Stop! Give me that!" She tries to snatch the ring out of his hand before he can open it but it's too late. "This-this is the ring I threw to the side of the road that night you-" He stops himself midsentence studying the ring. "How did you get this?" He wondered.

She sighs looking around the closet. "I thought I lost my voice so my vocal coach told me that it would be very therapeutic to go back to the site of the accident. That's when I found the ring." He crossed his arms feeling very closed off talking about the accident. "And you brought it back here?" He asked. "I know this sounds silly but it was the only thing that kept me close to you. I felt like I lost you. It was an icon of our future together, that there was going to be a happily ever after for us." She said.

He ran his hand through his hair. "So-so you want a happily ever after-" He started to say. "With me?" He asked. "Deacon I-" She started to say. "You didn't lose me Ray. You pushed me away Ray. You told me we needed to save ourselves so I moved on and here you are holding onto a box full of memories of us." He said. "Let's just forget about it." She said ignoring the tears burning in the back of her eyes. Deacon stood up getting angry. "Damnit Rayna. I will never understand you. You were with Teddy and now you're with Luke and you still have all these things of mine." He said raising his voice. She stood, trying to match his bitter tone. "Don't tell me that you didn't keep something of mine." She said placing her hands on her hips. He shook his head. "I burned it all, the day I found out you married Teddy." He said soften his tone as he looked at her with tears in his eyes.

Rayna nodded her head feeling the hurt of his words. "I'm-I'm sorry." Was all she could say as she walked out of the closet passing by him. She let the tears begin to fall as she sat down on her bed. He stayed in the closet for a while rummaging through the box some more. Once he had calmed down he walked over to her sitting down next to her on the bed. "Keep it." He said. She looked up at him confused. "What?" She asked tears still coming down her face. "Keep it." He repeated. "All of it. You looked better in my Titans sweatshirt anyways." He said. She smiled.

He put his arm around her as he sobbed against his chest. "I'm sorry for the way you found out about my marriage to Teddy." She said. He stroked her hair with his hand. "I knew that last time in your bed before you went off to rehab was the last time I'd ever be in your arms again so I kept that sweatshirt and I'd wear it when Teddy was away on business trips." Deacon stares back at her. "I put you through hell Ray. Why you would want to keep those memories is beyond me but I'm glad you did. Maybe one day when we're really old and Maddie is taken care of the two of us there might be something there again." He said.

She grabbed his hand. "Not all those memories of us were bad. I didn't keep that box to relive the bad. You're a good guy Deacon. Don't sell yourself short." She says. He smiles. "Thanks Ray." He looks down at her hand around his, reminding himself that she's with someone else. "I better get going." He said as he started to stand. Rayna nods. "Okay." She watches him exit the room.

She returns to the closet to reflect on the night. She goes to shut the lid on the box but decides to pull the Titans sweatshirt out. She sniffs his scent still on it. She tucks the box away and pulls the sweatshirt on. She doesn't hear the footsteps coming back upstairs but sees Deacon appear in the doorway of the closet. "Ray I forgot the notebo-" He starts to say but sees her wearing the old sweatshirt. She blushes being caught off guard.

He walks over to her and places his hand at the hem on the bottom of the shirt. His hand softly brushes against her bare leg. "It used to have this elastic at the bottom remember?" He asks. She nods. He looks up and notices her bare shoulder is handing out. He moves the collar closer to her neck and smiles. "There. That's better." He says fixing her hair. She searches his eyes before kissing him.

He pulls away. "You're with Luke." He says taking a step back from her. She looks at the ground. "We broke up." She replies. "What? But you said his jet was delayed in New York." Deacon said confused. Rayna looks up at him. "So you lied to me? Again?" He asks. Rayna crosses her arms. "I didn't lie Deacon." She says. Deacon shakes his head. "This is why we will never work. We can't even be honest with each other." Deacon says. "He did get delayed in New York. That's the truth!" Rayna yells back. "What about the rest of it? About you breaking up?" Deacon asked. "I didn't want anyone to pity me especially you. That's why I didn't say anything." Rayna says.

"What about dinner? Was that some rebound thing?" Deacon asked. "Come on! You know you mean more to me than that! And if you don't believe me look at all the things I kept of yours!" Rayna says. "Tonight was supposed to be about two old friends catching up! That's it! There was no hidden agenda. It just happened and I'm glad it did. Deacon I don't want to wait until we're old to be together. I don't want to have to rummage through a box just to be close to you. I want to be together right now." She says wrapping her arms around his neck. He grabs her arms and steps back from her again.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you say that but I just broke up with Megan and it hasn't even been 24 hours since you broke up with Luke. I don't think now is a good time." He said. "When is it ever going to be a good time Deacon?" She asked stepping closer to him. He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know but if it's going to happen it will. I don't want it to happen just because of some holiday based on love." He said. She raises her eyebrows at him. "I thought you said it was just another day." She reminded him.

He searches her pleading eyes. "It is to me. But to us it's different. Remember all those Valentine's Days up at my cabin? And that song you sang downstairs."

Rayna gently touches his arm. "That song was about you!" He nods. "I know. Just like all my songs are about you." He said taking another step back from her.

Rayna watches him cross the room. "Then tell me why you wanted to see that notebook so bad if you knew all those songs were love songs we wrote for each other?" She asked. Deacon freezes in his tracks remaining silent. He picks up the notebook and stares at it. He sits down on her bed.

"I guess because I wanted a song that reflected a happier time in my life. That happier time was when I was with you." She walks over and sits next to him. She grabs the notebook and flips through it until she finds the song she sang downstairs. "Look at these lyrics Deacon. 'You would still have my heart until the end of time. You're all I need, my love, my Valentine'." She reads. She grabs his hand. "I meant those words back then and I mean them now. You're all I need and you're all I ever wanted. I've just been fooling myself thinking I could push you away and everything would go away but I don't want it to go away. I want you." She says.

Deacon looks down at her hand on his and then at her. His hand reaches up to her cheek and softly pushes the hair out of her face. He looks deep into her eyes. He rests his cheek against hers, bringing his lips to her ear and whispering to her. "I want you too."

She pulls her head back slightly, just enough so her eyes meet his again. He leans in and kisses her.

She runs her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. His lips crash down harder on hers, wanting her more. She lifts her chin and he plants kisses down her neck. Her hand grabs the collar of his shirt but he stops kissing her.

She looks at him concerned. "We're missing something." He says. "What?" She asks confused watching him scrabble. "We need candles." He says searching the room. "Candles? Deacon-" Rayna says. "Yes candles. Where are they?" He demands. "In the hall closet." She replies. He returns carrying candles. He places them around the room and lights them. "This is really sweet but it's not necessary." She says impatiently waiting for him to return to the bed. He turns off the light switch.

He looks over at her taking in how beautiful she looks in the candle light. He sits back down on the bed and kisses her again. He pulls away again, standing up. "What now?" Rayna whines. He walks over to the closet and then returns to the room.

He walks back to the bed quietly and mysteriously. She giggles. "Babe, what are you doing?" She asks. He sits down next to her again.

He pulls out the ring box. She gasps. "I know it's a little sudden but you're right, when is it ever going to be a good time? Now is as good as any and you know Daphne did say after love is marriage." She laughs. She watches him get down on one knee. "Rayna, will you marry me?" He asks. "Yes!" She replies.

She pulls him back up on the bed as she kisses him. She leans back on the bed and he climbs on top of her. He kisses her neck and then lifts his head to look at her. He smiles at her. Rayna pulls back to look at Deacon. "Just marriage right? No baby in a baby carriage. We already have one of those." Deacon smiles. "We have two." He relies. She smiles at how sweet he is including Daphne as his own. She looks down, admiring the ring on her finger. He lifts her hand to his mouth and plants a kiss on it. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rayna." He leans in and kisses her again. "Happy Valentine's Day, Deacon."


End file.
